Siri won’t turn on my iPhone 16 flashlight when locked with iOS 18.4.1

You are not speaking with Apple here. This is a user to user only forum, which Apple doesn't read for user feedback. I have NEVER been able to turn on the flashlight on my iPhone using Siri if the screen is locked or my phone can't see my face. People often recall things which weren't. There are many things Siri won't do if the screen is locked and you'd have to unlock the phone first in order for Siri to complete some commands.

That said, if you'd like to make a feature request to Apple, you can use this link --> Product Feedback - Apple

That’s supposed to work:

• Turn the iPhone flashlight on or off - Apple Support
• Turn the flashlight on or off on your iPhone or iPad Pro - Apple Support

I’ll assume Siri and everything relevant is enabled in Settings > Face ID & Passcode.

Any add-on assistive devices in use here?

lkrupp wrote:

lobsterghost1 wrote:

lkrupp wrote:

" I have NEVER been able to turn on the flashlight on my iPhone using Siri if the screen is locked."

Just tried it with iOS 18.4.1 and iPhone 16 Pro. Works for me.

Do me a favor......turn your phone away from you, so it can't see your face and with your phone locked, ask Siri to turn on the flashlight.

"Sorry, I can’t help you with that” You are right.

Thank you. This is how it has always worked for both of our iPhone's with Siri. I believe this is to preserve the battery from unintentional flashlight turn-on, since Siri on iPhone is NOT voice dependent. Meaning, anyone could command the flashlight to turn on, if you aren't near your phone and the flashlight uses a lot of battery power, if left on unintentionally.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

Do me a favor, please. Place your phone away from you, with the face of screen down on a flat surface and leave it there for a couple minutes (I'm wondering if your screen opened by movement), then ask Siri to turn on the flashlight.

Further experimentation. If the phone is faced down, flat on the desk, it does not work. If I prop it up against something on the long edge, it works. If I prop it up on something by the short edge, it gets interesting. It depends on the angle. If it's at an angle of less than about 45%, it doesn't work. If it's close to straight up, it works. I also tried putting it on a pad of Post-its so that the camera and the sensors were close to the desk, but not completely occluded. It did not work. Tried again with the phone on a box so that it was raised above the desk by about four inches, with the top half of the phone beyond the edge of the box. It didn't work. I tried holding it parallel to the desk. It didn't work.

My conclusion: It doesn't work if the phone is facedown, but it seems to if it's perpendicular (or close to it) to the desk.

lkrupp wrote:

" I have NEVER been able to turn on the flashlight on my iPhone using Siri if the screen is locked."

Just tried it with iOS 18.4.1 and iPhone 16 Pro. Works for me.

Do me a favor......turn your phone away from you, so it can't see your face and with your phone locked, ask Siri to turn on the flashlight.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

lkrupp wrote:

" I have NEVER been able to turn on the flashlight on my iPhone using Siri if the screen is locked."

Just tried it with iOS 18.4.1 and iPhone 16 Pro. Works for me.

Do me a favor......turn your phone away from you, so it can't see your face and with your phone locked, ask Siri to turn on the flashlight.

"Sorry, I can’t help you with that” You are right.

Just another data point. I just turned my locked phone away from me and asked it to turn on the flashlight. It worked. I tested it with the phone attached to the charger and not.

iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 18.4.1

" I have NEVER been able to turn on the flashlight on my iPhone using Siri if the screen is locked."

Just tried it with iOS 18.4.1 and iPhone 16 Pro. Works for me.

W-Sky wrote:

I don’t need to thump over Face ID because what I was need to use is when the room is dark and I tried to find out my way on the phone is a little bit away from me. I ask Siri to turn on flashlight.

My thumb was used specifically to prevent Face ID from being triggered here, and potentially altering the test.

MrHoffman wrote:

W-Sky wrote:

I don’t need to thump over Face ID because what I was need to use is when the room is dark and I tried to find out my way on the phone is a little bit away from me. I ask Siri to turn on flashlight.

My thumb was used specifically to prevent Face ID from being triggered here, and potentially altering the test.

OK. Was the screen active or locked?

MrHoffman wrote:

lobsterghost1 wrote:

OK. Was the screen active or locked?

Locked and dimmed, face up, thumb over the island, Siri enabled in the lock screen.

I don't know what to tell you. I walked into a dark room, with my phone locked and facing away from my face. I asked Siri to turn on the flashlight and nope. Siri said Sorry, I can't do that, so I know Siri heard me. Unlocked, Siri is perfectly happy to turn on the flashlight. Siri is enabled everywhere it's possible to enable Siri on my iPhone